Chapter 55
Tristan awoke just as daylight streaked into the shelter. His first thought was to look outside and see if it was still raining. He sat up slowly, careful not to bump his head against the low stone above. The person sleeping next to him shifted a little and Tristan looked down expecting to see Taddeo, but saw Fira instead. The girl was buried beneath her blanket, with only the tip of her nose and her pink lips poking out. Tristan looked over at Taddeo. He too was awake now and looking down at Fira with a look of surprise on his face. Tristan and Taddeo's eyes met, and then they both burst into laughter.
Fira awoke to the sound of their laughter. She pulled the blanket from off her head, squinting in the light, and her brown hair in disarray.
"Someone got cold last night after all." Taddeo teased.
"Oh, hush." Fira grumbled, swiping her hair away from her eyes. Then she turned to Tristan. "And wipe that grin off your face."
"And someone is definitely not a morning person." Tristan said, unable to 'wipe' the grin from his face.
Fira untangled herself from her blanket and crawled over to where her bag lay.
"There was plenty of room over by me." Mathias said from the other side of the shelter. He gave her a pretend pouty look.
"I just crawled over to whoever was closest." Fira shot back, not wanting to engage in any more teasing.
"It's still raining!" Jamin groaned. "What if we're stuck under here for days?"
As if in answer to his question, Lotus popped in under the shelter, shaking raindrops over the cadets, causing them all to howl with discomfort as the wet drops sprinkled over them. A telltale stem of a fern protruded from the corner of her mouth, evidence that she'd been out getting an early breakfast, despite the rain. She quickly pranced out a message in the mud near the edge of the shelter. "Rain slow now."
"Aha." Fira said after reading the message. "That means it won't be too much longer."
The cadets ate a cold breakfast from their supplies in their packs, though they all discussed what their favorite hot breakfast foods and drinks were. Lotus tried to squeeze in between Taddeo and Mathias, but they both pushed her away, telling her that she was too wet. Lotus turned her big eyes over to Jamin, but he pretended not to notice, then she shifted to Fira.
"Are you kidding me?" Fira said. "It's damp enough as it is under here. I don't want to get wet."
Last of all Lotus looked at Tristan. He'd been distracted at the moment, zoning out, his thoughts drifting lazily like puffy clouds on a warm day. Words suddenly penetrated through his mind. "Rain cold. You share warmth with me?"
Tristan looked up with a start, eyes meeting the saurian's. Lotus blinked and there were the words again. He couldn't really hear them, he just felt them somehow. He really didn't want his clothes to get damp by having the struthiomimus's rain slicked sides brushing against his nice dry clothes, but there was something fascinating by the fact that her silent question came through to him. As a result, he decided to respond. "Yes." He thought, willing it toward the creature. He looked into her eyes and Lotus happily approached, rubbing up against him. Tristan cringed slightly, hoping that the rain wouldn't last long and the sun would pop out and dry his clothes which were rapidly getting damp now. He reached out one arm and placed it over her back, allowing more body heat to reach her.
Lotus sighed in satisfaction and gave him an adoring look. Tristan realized that by sacrificing his own comfort, he'd just made a friend with a saurian. He looked up to find the other cadets staring at him.
"Okay, that was weird." Mathias said. "You both just looked at each other and never made a sound and yet it looked like you communicated somehow."
"Yeah." Taddeo added. "Explain that."
Tristan rubbed his arm down the struthie's neck. "Maybe there are some advantages to not studying at Treetown after all." He said, with an aggravatingly smug look on his face.
Mathias rolled his eyes. "I doubt it."
"That didn't really explain." Taddeo pressed.
Tristan looked back at Lotus. This growing ability to communicate without speaking with saurians and pterosaurs felt special, especially since the other cadets seemed puzzled. For some reason he didn't want to explain it to them. Besides, it felt difficult to put into words anyway. What would he say? We send each other thoughts in either words or pictures. Would they even believe that? He glanced outside the shelter, then noticed that the rain had finally stopped.
"Hey, look." He pointed outside the shelter. "The rain has let up. We can finally get out of this cramped space."
With that, everyone fairly tumbled out of the shelter, eager to stretch and set out again on their journey, regardless of the still dripping trees.
The air felt cooler now, fresh, and invigorating. When they reached the first rushing stream, swollen from the rain, they paused in front of it, debating the crossing. Larger stones created places to step on, positioned close enough together to either step or hop onto all the way to the other side. It looked feasible and after some debating, the cadets decided to carefully make their way across rather than go out of their way to try and find a different route. They already felt like they'd been delayed long enough by the rain and felt the pressure of the impending early wintery weather that Lotus had predicted. They all agreed that the quickest routes would be the best. They were all sure footed and agile from so much time spent on the narrow canyon paths so the first crossing went well. It was the next one that proved to be more challenging.
This time there were less accessible stepping stones and where the stones were missing, a fallen log was wedged between the boulders, creating a bridge on the farthest side of stream. Having confidence after making a successful crossing the first time, they carefully make their way across this one too.
The log ended up much more slippery than they anticipated. As a result, Fira lost her footing. With a terrified look in her eyes, she tottered backwards, pulled back by the weight of her pack.
Both Mathias and Taddeo were positioned on either side of her and acted quickly, managing to grab her, pulling her back up with their strong arms before she could land in the cold, rushing water. For a moment, she clung to both their arms, looking back and forth between the two of them, her eyes wide. "Thank you." She gasped. "Thank you both."
By late afternoon the young travelers had managed several more creek crossings, some bigger than others, but each one had its own challenges. They paused next to yet another one, this one wider than some of the others. The water rushed by quickly, foaming against large boulders and debris. Tristan leaned over the creek bank and poked the bottom of his hiking staff into the water. It sank down quickly and the water's rapid movement nearly knocked him off balance as it tried to jerk the staff out of his grasp. Tristan pulled back quickly before it could take both him and his staff along with it. "Well, all I can say is don't' fall in." Tristan said to the others. "I can't tell how deep this one is, but judging by its width, I would say it's deep enough in places for a nice swim."
"Ha." Taddeo responded in an unenthused tone. "That's all I've been thinking about all day; how nice it would be to just jump into one of these ice baths."
"I think we can cross right here." Mathias called from further up the creek. Fira followed behind him, her footsteps dragging. Ever since her close encounter with nearly falling in, she'd become very unenthusiastic about water crossings.
The cadets crossed as usual, utilizing the large stones protruding high enough from the water for places to step on. Taddeo and Lotus made it across first with Jamin following close behind, Tristan, Fira, then Mathias. But just as Jamin stepped onto the last stone, his foot slipped. Maybe it was overconfidence or just sheer tiredness that caused the mishap, nevertheless, it happened fast and he was unable to regain his balance. Tristan reached out to try and help steady him, but it was too late. Jamin tottered backwards, arms pin wheeling momentarily as he struggled to regain his balance, but gravity won, pulling him down into the cold water.
A look of pure shock widened Jamin's eyes as he hit the water and for a second he couldn't seem to figure out what to do. His pack pulled him down quickly and his head nearly went under.
Fira shrieked in terror as she saw their fellow cadet down in the water.
Thinking fast, Tristan shoved the end of his hiking staff out to Jamin, shouting at him to grab hold of it. Just before his head went under, Jamin managed to respond. He reached for the staff, but the current pulled him backward before he could catch a strong enough hold on it. Tristan watched helplessly as Jamin drifted out of reach, struggling to keep his head above the water.
He thrashed against the current that pushed him rapidly downstream. It rammed him into a boulder, but fortunately, his pack cushioned his back. The water spun him around and he frantically grabbed at the boulder, but his numbing fingers only slipped against the bulky surface and the current pulled him further downstream.
Taddeo, who was already on the other side of the crossing, realized that there was only one way to try and help the other cadet. He dropped his pack from his shoulders and wrenched off his boots, then jumped into the water.
The cold water nearly took his breath away, but it wasn't as deep on this side and he pushed out quickly toward the middle to where Jamin was struggling where a strap on his pack had snagged on a scraggly tree poking out of the water. It held him fast, but the water pounded him, threatened to drag him under.
Despite the numbingly cold water and having to fight the current, Taddeo finally reached Jamin and helped untangle him from the tree. Fighting the current, he managed to help pull Jamin through the water and toward calmer water. By now they'd drifted much further downstream.
In the meantime the other cadets made it the rest of the way across the water without further mishap. Tristan rushed down stream to where Taddeo and Jamin were struggling to reach the bank. He dropped down to his knees and leaned forward, pushing the end of his staff out over the water toward the cadets in the water.
Taddeo pushed Jamin forward and Jamin somehow managed to grasp the end of the staff with his numb fingers. The sudden weight on the other end of the staff nearly caused Tristan to topple forward into the water, but Fira jumped forward and wrapped her arms around his waist to steady him. Mathias did likewise, wrapping his arms around Fira's waist, and last of all Lotus followed, grabbing hold of Mathias. Together, they managed to pull the other two cadets out of the water.
For a moment, Jamin and Taddeo just laid on the ground, gasping and shivering violently. Through chattering teeth, Jamin managed a rattled 'thank you.'
Fira grasped Jamin's cold fingers, rubbing them rapidly between her hands. "I'm so sorry this happened to you." She said, her eyes wide with fear. "You're freezing." She turned to Taddeo next. "And you too. You were so brave! You saved Jamin." She brushed his wet hair away from his eyes.
"N-n-n-no." Taddeo said as his teeth chattered. "We all s-s-saved him t-t-t-together."
Fira's eyes welled up with tears, but she turned away quickly, hoping no one saw them. "We've got to get you two warm as quickly as possible." She said, almost fiercely, in order to counteract her emotions.
"A fire." Mathias said. "We've got to build a fire."
"But everything is still so wet from the rain." Fira said.
Tristan and Mathias exchanged looks, both understanding what needed to be done.
"Fira," Mathias said. "Jamin and Taddeo have got to get out of these wet clothes right away. We can still build a fire. Here, take this and you and Lotus chop a lower limb down from a dead tree. Bring it back and we'll be able to use it for a fire." He pulled a hatchet from his belt and handed it to the girl.
"But, I don't underst—"
"It will work. Trust me. I know what to do." Mathias assured her. "Hurry now." He gave her a gentle push and the girl stumbled away to do as she was told with Lotus following.
While Fira was gone, Mathias and Tristan helped the other two boys out of their wet clothes and into the dry ones from their packs. Since everything in Jamin's pack was wet, Tristan loaned him his warm set of clothes in his own pack.
By then, Fira and Lotus returned, dragging a dead tree limb along with them. Mathias worked on building the fire, showing Fira how to chop away the outer part of the limb, exposing the dry wood beneath. Next he split some of the wood into foot long sections and showed her how to use a knife to carve off shavings from the dry wood pieces, to create tinder. He used two larger chunks of the limb and set them side by side with nearly eight inches of space between them and piled the dry shavings between them. Next he layered the thin kindling pieces over that, creating a grid of thin wood strips with dry tinder shavings beneath.
As he worked on starting the fire next, Fira tipped back on her heels and just watched in amazement. "Since the forest is still so wet from the rain, I thought we were doomed!" She said. "Where did you learn how to do this?"
A spark caught the small shavings and a tendril of smoke rose into the air. "Treetown." Mathias said simply. He blew lightly on the smoking shavings and a flame popped up. Then carefully, he added shavings to the delicate flame, encouraging it to grow. "I thought you would've learned that too." He said, glancing sideways at the girl.
Fira quickly looked away. "I'd better go find some more wood to keep this fire going." She said. "It's going to take Jamin and Taddeo a long time to thaw out and we'll have to get their clothes dried out too." She jumped up and walked off before Mathias could ask her any more questions about her experiences with Treetown.
Tristan overheard the conversation and sent the girl and understanding look. She turned and practically fled away from the makeshift camp. Tristan finished handing two blankets to Jamin and Taddeo, then quickly followed after the girl.
At the first sign of a flame, Jamin and Taddeo huddled close to it, trying hard not to get in Mathias's way as he gradually coaxed the flames to grow and burn the kindling pieces he and Fira had created. Lotus watched nearby, fascinated with how the humans could create fire.
"Fira." Tristan called as he pursued the girl, but she kept running as if she didn't hear him. He picked up his pace.
"Fira." He called again.
The girl made her way to the dead tree she and Lotus had found earlier. She angrily swung Mathias's hatchet against a low branch. It stuck fast in the wood and didn't slide back out as she tugged on the handle. She grunted in frustration and pulled at it, but it still wouldn't come. Tears trickled down her face and she paused, using her sleeve to swipe them away.
Tristan caught up to her. "Fira." He said again, and cautiously stepped up to her. "Hey, are you ok?"
Fira frowned, avoiding looking up at him. "No one is ok!" She said. "This trip has turned out to not only hard, but terrifying now. We nearly lost Jamin and then Taddeo and and and…what if they're still not ok? What if they can't get warm enough? What if it rains again? What if we can't get everything dried out in time? What if we can't find a good shelter? What if—"
"Hey." Tristan said gently, cautiously reaching out and putting his hands on the girl's shoulders. "It's fine. Everyone is fine and everyone is going to be fine."
Fira flinched at his touch so he quickly pulled his hands away.
"Why did you follow me?" Fira said.
"Because, I wanted to make sure you were ok." Tristan replied, scratching the back of his head awkwardly and looking sideways up at the trees.
"Really?" Fira finally looked up at him, her eyes still glistening with leftover tears.
"Well, yes…and to help you get some more wood." Tristan said, turning quickly and grasping the handle of the hatchet. He yanked on it, freeing it from the wood.
Fira wiped the last of her tears away. "You made that look easy." She said, sounding more like her old self.
Tristan looked back at her and smiled. "It was easy." He teased and quickly chopped down the limb before Fira could protest. After it was down, Fira grabbed the hatchet away from him, complaining. "I was going to get that done."
Tristan just smiled and grasped the branch.
Fira tried to grab the branch too, her hand closing over his.
Tristan nearly dropped the branch.
Fira pulled her hand away. "Wow. You sure are touchy."
"I think all of our nerves are shot." He said quickly. "You know, after what happened today."
Fira stepped up beside him, walking quickly too keep up with him. "Right. But please, don't mention my…weak…moment to the others." She said.
"You know I won't." Tristan said. Then after a moment he added, "You're a lot like my sister, Tiana."
"Oh?" Fira said. "How so?"
"If she ever shed a tear, she got angry over it, lashing out at everyone, making us all remember it more than if she had just cried silently and never said anything about it." Tristan explained, smiling at the memory.
"Hmf." Fira grunted, kicking at stone.
They both kept their thoughts to themselves as they walked the rest of the way back to Lotus and the rest of the cadets.
